Integration of Agriculture and Wildlife Ecosystem Services: a Case Study of Westham Island, British Columbia, Canada

Agricultural Sciences, 2017, 8, 409-425 http://www.scirp.org/journal/as ISSN Online: 2156-8561 ISSN Print: 2156-8553 Integration of Agriculture and Wildlife Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of Westham Island, British Columbia, Canada Yuan Zhang, Julie E. Wilson, Les M. Lavkulich* Master of Land and Water Systems, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada How to cite this paper: Zhang, Y., Wilson, Abstract J.E. and Lavkulich, L.M. (2017) Integration of Agriculture and Wildlife Ecosystem There is concern regarding the loss of ecosystem goods and services as a result Services: A Case Study of Westham Island, of land use changes such as the expansion and intensification of agricultural British Columbia, Canada. Agricultural Sci- activities. Assessments of these interactions require innovative analyses that ences, 8, 409-425. https://doi.org/10.4236/as.2017.85031 combine qualitative and quantitative economic analyses. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework was applied to a peri-urban region in Brit- Received: April 21, 2017 ish Columbia, Canada to assess the effects of the integration of agricultural Accepted: May 24, 2017 programs and the maintenance of waterfowl habitat located on the Pacific Published: May 27, 2017 Flyway. The Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust, a non-governmental organiza- Copyright © 2017 by authors and tion, has implemented several activities to enhance ecosystem goods and ser- Scientific Research Publishing Inc. vices by cooperative programs among the agricultural community and wildlife This work is licensed under the Creative interests. The successful collaborative framework has resulted in enhanced Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). soil quality, increased biodiversity, and the maintenance of valuable agricul- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ture and waterfowl habitat. Open Access Keywords Ecosystem Services, Agriculture, Land Use Change, Wildlife Habitat 1. Introduction Increased agricultural production has contributed to global and local land use changes [1], often with ecosystem degradation and loss of ecosystem services [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. A prime example is the relationship between loss of wildlife habitat and agriculture. Agricultural landscapes are dynamic and changes of land cover often occur rapidly and can result in conflict between agricultural production and wildlife habitat, especially in the short term. Interactions between agricultural crops and wildlife species and changes in agricultural landscapes can result in large effects on wildlife habitat as well as the structure of wildlife com- DOI: 10.4236/as.2017.85031 May 27, 2017 Y. Zhang et al. munities and biodiversity [7]. Because areas experiencing gains and losses are spatially unique, proportional constancy of a particular land cover type (habitat) at broader spatial scales (na- tionally) may not capture the impact of habitat change on wildlife at finer scales (regionally or locally). Thus, local changes in land use and their impacts on the ecosystem cannot be analyzed independently. To assess the ecological effects on the outcome of changes in land use, a framework of ecosystem goods and services is needed to provide a relative comparison that integrates both tangible (economic and quantitative) values and intangible (social, ecological, and qualitative) values [8]. Some ecological benefits are recognized by traditional economic analysis, for example crop or livestock production, while others, such as wildlife habitat or water quality are not. Reference [9] presents a framework of the effects of farming and land management on the services and disservices of ecological systems. He suggests integrating market and non-market valuation approaches. For example, some ecosystem services may be estimated by accounting for the market value of a product if removed (replacement value) and non-market values may be estimated by use of “revealed preference”, or consumer choices among alter- natives, and “stated preference”, such as “willingness-to-pay”. A regional study [10] integrated the two economic approaches to provide an overview of the value of natural capital in Canada and at a smaller scale, a “willingness-to-pay” study of the total public benefits provided by agricultural land, including the amenities and market benefits that farmland provides. Reference [10] contributed to the implementation of the public policy of natural capital in British Columbia, Canada [11]. The Lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada, is an example of the phenomena of landscape dynamics. This region is important for agricultural production, while also subject to development pressures, including various in- dustries, urban residential expansion, transportation arteries (road and rail) connecting to port facilities, and tourism and recreation activities. In recognition of these pressures, the provincial government introduced regulations under the Agricultural Land Commission Act to restrict non-agricultural uses on the most productive soils within the province [12]. The challenge in implementation is to develop an optimal evaluation framework to manage these lands to sustain and enhance the viability of agriculture, and to better assess the provision of ecological services. Within the Lower Fraser Valley, the municipality of Delta is located on the Pacific Flyway, an internationally significant migratory route and nesting area for migratory waterfowl [13]. In the municipality, the Delta Farmland and Wild- life Trust (DF&WT), a non-profit organization, serves as a successful collabora- tion framework organization among wildlife and farming groups. The DF&WT recognizes the significance of ecosystem services and the importance of the integration of agricultural production and the provision of habitat for breeding and feeding migratory waterfowl [14]. The mandate of the DF&WT is to promote the preservation of farmland and associated wildlife habitat within the Fraser 410 Y. Zhang et al. River delta, through sustainable farming and land stewardship [15]. Through the land stewardship programs offered to local farmers, DF&WT enhances on-farm habitat for wildlife, while conserving soil resources. The organization also ad- dresses and mitigates the perceived conflict between agricultural production and waterfowl habitat. The Delta location provides an ideal case study to address is- sues related to the integration of ecological goods and services within an agricultural landscape. Westham Island, in the Municipality of Delta, has a long and documented history of agriculture that has had an important role in providing value to the agricultural community as well as wildlife (i.e. waterfowl) habitat. According to the Agricultural Land Use Inventory provided by the province of BC, about 95% of the land on Westham Island is within the provincially-regulated Agricultural Land Reserve [16]. As agricultural land on Westham Island is a significant source of ecosystem goods and services [13], several questions arise: do changes in production and land base affect other ecological services, and do these ecosystem services sup- port sustained agricultural activity in the long term? This study assesses the interaction of agricultural production and the provision of ecosystem goods and services on Westham Island, in Delta, BC. The assessment focuses on the contributions that intangible values (e.g., wildlife habitat, pollination, etc.) provide, both spatially and temporally, through management of the lands; it also evaluates the effects of programs initiated by DF&WT, and discusses the importance of balancing agricultural and environmental land uses in the context of the published literature. 2. Methods 2.1. Study Area Westham Island (49˚05’15’’N, 123˚09’29’’W) is located within the municipality of Delta, a suburb of Vancouver, in southwestern British Columbia. This small island is in a productive agricultural region in the province (Figure 1). The region has a humid maritime climate with a mean annual temperature of 9.6˚C and a mean annual precipitation of 1008 mm [17]. It is approximately 17 square kilometers of level lowland bordered by the Fraser River estuary, and the Strait of Georgia. The George C. Reifel Bird Sanctuary and Alaksen National Wildlife Area occupy the northern part of the island, which are identified as key habitats and stopover for waterfowl to nest, breed and feed on the Pacific Flyway (Figure 2) [13]. References [18] and [19] have published guidelines for the assessment of ecosystem goods and services. Reference [19] developed a five-category scheme of potential indicators of ecosystem services, consisting of: provisioning, regulat- ing, supporting and contributing to amenity and cultural attributes. From these categories, the following indicators were selected that are relevant to the agricultural practices of the case study on Westham Island: food production, wildlife habitat, and ancillary ecosystem services including pollination, soil quality, and 411 Y. Zhang et al. Figure 1. Land use map of Delta, BC (adapted from [14]). Figure 2. Land use map of Westham Island (with permission from [16]). eco-and agro-tourism. By adapting the spatial analysis outlined in [20] and the ecosystem services model InVEST [21], a comprehensive framework was established to evaluate the potential ecosystem services provided by integrating wildlife habitat within agricultural ecosystems. This framework was used to assess and evaluate ecological goods and

Load more